Choose to Live. - book reviews

Cholesterol Not Only Villain

Cutting back on cholesterol and other "quick fixes" are not enough. Nothing less than a comprehensive dietary change integrated with a multifaceted lifestyle program is needed for survival in a polluted world. So says Joseph D. Weissman, M.D., a clinical assistant professor medicine at the U.C.L.A. School of Medicine and director of the Medical Center for Health and longevity in Torrance, California.

In his dramatic new approach to the cause and prevention of today's "man-made" diseases, Dr. Weissman contends that fat and cholesterol in themselves are not the villains. Rather it is the chemical toxins created by man and his technology, many of which already have been linked to killer diseases, which must be avoided.

The physician observes that although the Eskimos of the Arctic and Masai of Africa consume a high fat diet, they experience little or no incidence of noninfectious (degenerative) diseases including Alzheimer's Disease, cancer, coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, lupus and the like. However, as Eskimos start to eat the Western diet (using such foods as refined bleached sugar, bleached white flour, salt, eggs, canned goods, meats and cakes) they succumb to the "disease of civilization."

As the Masais' lifestyle changes, Weissman expects that they too will fall victim to diseases which were absent among our ancestors in a world uncontaminated by industrial wastes.

The incidence of killer diseases in an aging population is not always the result of bodies growing older, wearing out, and falling apart. Weissman observes:

"This does not account for the number of younger people who suffer from Crohn's disease, arthritis, cancer, heart attacks, multiple sclerosis, and other ailments that have been on the rise in the twentieth century."

In this framework, the preventive health expert indicts animal foods as a major disease producing factor because they are "bioconcentrators." As a result, the environmental toxin levels in animal food are many times -- in some studies, seventeen times, greater than in plant foods.

Weissman also explains that more than 300 pesticides are registered for use on food crops. They are used on foods for animals which become concentrated and enhanced within the cow, pig or chicken, interacting with the hormones and antibodies included in animal diets.

To minimize the effect of such pollutants, Weissman has developed a ten-point, low-toxin program emphasizing a vegetarian diet based on plant sources, eliminating animal products and processed foods.

"In my own medical practice," the physician says, "I have seen the low-toxin program help patients with conditions such as coronary artery disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, systemic lupus, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, spastic colitis, diabetes, duodenal ulcers, chronic hives, eczema and hypertension."

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